Ghost Whisperer

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Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer title card
Genre	Supernatural drama - fantasy - thriller
Creator(s)	John Gray
Starring	Jennifer Love Hewitt David Conrad and Camryn Manheim
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	41 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Gray, Sander/Moses Productions, ABC TV Studio, CBS Paramount
Running time	60 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	September 23, 2005 – present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Ghost Whisperer is an American television drama-fantasy-thriller about a young woman who can communicate with the spirits of the dead. The show was created by John Gray and is produced by Sander/Moses Productions in association with ABC Television Studio & CBS Paramount Television. It stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, David Conrad and Camryn Manheim (beginning with the second episode of Season 2, which began September 22). The series is based on the work of James Van Praagh, who is a co-executive producer and posts to a blog about the show hosted by CBS. The stories are also said to be based in part on the work of Spirit Communicator Mary Ann Wintkowski.

Ghost Whisperer began airing on Fridays, starting on September 23, 2005, on CBS and CTV. When it premiered, there had been several other recent television series - Joan of Arcadia, Medium and Tru Calling - about young women with gifts for supernatural communication. Ghost Whisperer has become one of CBS' top-rated shows.

Season 2 of Ghost Whisperer premiered on September 22, 2006. It is on every Friday night at 8/7c on CBS. The new season will also feature Jay Mohr as recurring character, Professor Payne - who will be helping Melinda figure out how and why the spirit world is getting stronger and what they can do to keep it from spiraling out of control.

Contents 1 Brief Plot Summary 2 Episodes 3 Characters 3.1 Current characters 3.2 Past character 3.3 Recurring characters 4 Trivia 5 International broadcasting 6 DVD Releases 7 U.S. Broadcast History 8 External links

[edit] Brief Plot Summary

Melinda Gordon is a young newlywed with the unique ability to communicate with the earthbound spirits of people who have died, and who seek her help. Melinda uses her gift to relay significant messages and important information to the living, but sometimes the messages she receives are intense and confusing. As a result, she is often met with questions and skepticism by the survivors. But when Melinda is able to help both the lost souls who contact her and those who are still alive, she knows that her unique talent is an asset and not a liability.

The following opening narration aired with most of Season One's episodes, spoken by Jennifer Love Hewitt who plays the show's main character:

“

My name is Melinda Gordon. I just got married. I just moved to a small town. I just opened an antique shop. I might be just like you. Except from the time I was a little girl I knew I could talk to the dead. Earthbound spirits my grandmother called them. The ones who have not crossed over because they have unfinished business with the living and they come to me for help. To tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs.

”

During the second season the opening narration changed a bit.

“

My name is Melinda Gordon. I am married. I live in a small town and I own an antique shop. I might be just like you, except that from the time I was a little girl I knew that I could talk to the dead. Earthbound spirits my grandmother called them. They're stuck here because they have unfinished business with the living and they come to me for help. In order to tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs.

”

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Ghost Whisperer episodes

Season	Ep #	First Airdate	Last Airdate
Season 1	22	September 23, 2005	May 5, 2006
Season 2	22	September 22, 2006	May 11, 2007

[edit] Characters

[edit] Current characters

Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt): Melinda is the main character of the series and has the ability to see and hear the earthbound spirits of those who have recently perished. Melinda's goal is to help those who have passed communicate their messages to the living so that they can crossover to the other side. She has possessed this gift since she was a small girl; however, only recently has she embraced it as part of who she is. Her mother and grandmother also share her gift, although her mother suppresses the gift she has, to the detriment of her own health in the form of terrible migraine headaches. Melinda's father, Tom Gordon, left when she was a small child.

Jim Clancy (David Conrad): Jim is Melinda's husband. He decided to become a paramedic after witnessing the death of his older brother when they were children. He knows about Melinda's gift and often worries about the effects that it can have on her, but also helps her regularly. Jim is the leading support for Melinda since the death of her best friend Andrea.

Delia Banks (Camryn Manheim): Delia is a single mother (widowed) and a real estate agent who has an office not far from Melinda's store. Delia has a son who shoplifted from Melinda's store, but was caught by Melinda herself. Melinda later found out the boy was being stalked by the spirit of a stoner rock music fan and artist, who she then helped cross over. Delia has yet to learn of the gift Melinda has, but Delia has had to deal with a haunted house she sold to a young woman and her husband. Melinda helped the spirit of a young girl who remained in the house, who was waiting for her mom to wake up and her dad to come home. Delia, who got into real estate after her husband, Charlie, died three years ago continues to build a close friendship with Melinda. After telling Melinda about how stressful her job was for her, Melinda offered Delia a job running the antique store with her; Delia accepted Melinda's offer and now works with her at the store.

[edit] Past character

Andrea Moreno (Aisha Tyler): Andrea was Melinda's co-worker at their antique dealership, and early in the first season became Melinda's partner. She used to work as a lawyer in New York. She was another character fully aware of Melinda's gift and assisted her on a regular basis. She was killed when she was caught by a plane crash as she was driving in Season One's "Free Fall," and she was helped to cross over by Melinda in the Season Two premiere "Love Never Dies."

[edit] Recurring characters

Professor Rick Payne (Jay Mohr): A well educated but arrogant professor of psychology specializing in occult/supernatural beliefs and history at Rockland University. He often helps Melinda without knowing it, and he gives her answers and reasons for certain paranormal questions she asks. Even though he is knowledgeable in the field of paranormal studies, Professor Payne does not believe in most of what he studies, though he does ask Melinda if she believes she has supernatural powers ("The Night We Met"). In the episode "Cat's Claw" Professor Payne learns of Melinda's ability to communicate with the dead. Professor Payne is also married, but they are apparently undergoing difficulties.

Ned Banks (Tyler Patrick Jones): Ned is Delia's young son, who had a small shoplifting problem; he stole souvenir Grateful Dead tickets from Melinda's store due to a spirit telling him to do so by talking in his ear at night. Melinda helped the spirit (who originally had the tickets before he died, and wanted them given to someone worthy) cross into the light after letting Ned have the tickets on the condition that he helps her with cleanup work at the store on weekends, convincing Ned to give up shoplifting. He apparently has a vast collection of Grateful Dead memorabilia. In the episode "The Curse of the Ninth", Ned overhears Melinda mention how she can talk with ghosts. He approaches her on the subject and asks her to talk to his dead father, but Melinda tells him she cannot. Jim decides to talk to him and tells him that it is a good thing that Melinda cannot see Charlie, meaning that he has crossed over. Jim then leaves, telling Ned that if he ever needs to talk, he has a secret confidant in Jim as long as he does not tell his mother about Melinda's gift.

[edit] Trivia

• The show is filmed entirely on the Universal Studios back lot in Hollywood. In fact, the town square is the same one used in the Back to the Future movies, but modified to represent the fictional town of Grandview (i.e. the famous clock tower has been removed/hidden).
• Jennifer Love Hewitt produced some of the episodes.
• The show was alluded to in the cartoon Family Guy.

[edit] International broadcasting

Country	Network(s)	Time
Australia	Seven Network	Sundays at 7:40 PM
Austria	ORF 1
Belgium	PlugTV	Saturdays at 8:00 PM
Bosnia and Herzegovina	OBN	Wednesdays at 8:00 PM
Brazil	Sony Entertainment Television	Thursdays at 8:00 PM
Canada	CTV	Fridays at 8:00 PM
Chile	Sony Entertainment Television
Croatia	HRT 2	Saturdays at 11:20 PM
Denmark	Kanal 4	Wednesdays at 8:55 PM
Finland	Nelonen	Mondays at 7:00 PM
Fiji	Fiji One
France	TF6
Germany	Kabel 1	Fridays at 8:15 PM
Iceland	Sirkus	Wednesdays at 9:30 PM
India	Star World	Tuesdays at 9:00 PM
Jakarta, Indonesia	Jak-TV - Local TV	Sunday at 8:30 PM
Ireland	RTÉ One	Weekdays at 3:25 PM
Israel	yes stars 2	Mondays at 9:30 PM
Italy	FOX Life	Tuesdays at 9:00 PM
Lebanon	Showtime TV Land	Tuesdays at 8:00 PM
Malaysia	8TV	Mondays at 9:30 PM
Mexico	Azteca 7 Sony Entertainment Television (Latin America)	Tuesdays at 9:30 PM Fridays at 1:00 PM (Rep: Saturdays at 11:00 AM)
The Netherlands	SBS 6	Thursdays at 8:30 PM
New Zealand	TV 2	Tuesdays at 10:25 PM
Norway	TVNorge	Sundays at 8:10 PM
Philippines	Studio 23	Fridays at 8:20 PM
Portugal	FOX Life SIC	Thursdays at 9:00 PM Saturdays at 2:00 PM
Romania	PRO TV	Sundays at 5:15 PM
Saudi Arabia	Showtime Arabia TV Land TV Land +2 (Subtitled)	Tuesdays at 8:00 PM
Singapore	MediaCorp TV Channel 5	Season 1 Completed
Slovenia	TV3	Saturdays at 8:50 PM
South Korea	OnStyle	Wednesdays and Thursdays at 4:00 PM
Spain	Cuatro FOX	Wednesdays at 10:00 PM
Sweden	TV4 TV400
Switzerland	TSR	Sundays at 4:50 PM
Turkey	CNBC-e	Sundays at 8:00 PM
UK	ABC1 (Season 1) LIVING (Season 2)
Venezuela	Televen	Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 PM

[edit] DVD Releases

Paramount Home Entertainment released the Ghost Whisperer: The Complete First Season DVD box set for Region 1 on October 31, 2006. This six-disc set features all 22 season one episodes presented in anamorphic widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround audio. Extras include cast and crew audio commentaries on select episodes, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes bonus featurettes, and a blooper reel.

DVD Name	Release Date	Cover Art
Season One	October 31, 2006
Season Two	TBA 2007

[edit] U.S. Broadcast History

• September 23, 2005 - present -- Fridays 8:00pm/7:00pm central

[edit] External links

• Official CBS website, including Van Praagh's blog

• Ghost Whisperer Forum Discussions! Houses an ultimate Ghost Whisperer Forum and others, under one roof!
• Official CTV website
• House of Ghost Whisperer
• The Melindaverse
• Ghost Whisperer
• Ghost Whisperer/Mary J Blige Online Comic

Ghost Whisperer
Main
Episode Guide
Main Characters
Melinda Gordon | Jim Clancy | Delia Banks
Other Characters
Andrea Moreno | Professor Rick Payne | Ned Banks
Official Site
CBS offical Ghost Whisperer site
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